Tuesday, September 23, 2014

They both dried really well but the flavor was off. Like, acidic. I blame the apples and the length of time the apples were on the counter before I dealt with them... But definitely a successful proof of concept.

Mine took 12 hours to dry instead of the recommended 6~8. Probably because of how thick they were.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

So, I'm not that great at sticking to my menu plan. Some months I do pretty well. Then once in a while (like last weekend), we eat out three days in a row cause I'm getting some project done.

I've been really thinking thru how menus can work better for me. There has got to be a system that I can stick with and not feel like I'm continually changing it. I've decided that repetition and regular leftovers will work well for me. So I've come up with a weekly format. Here it is:

That may not look earth shattering, but I'm excited about it. V actually does the weekend cooking, and I do the pizza dough ahead of time, so that puts me down to one day a week of actual cooking, plus a big monthly prep day. And that's awesome.

I'll do a monthly meal plan using that weekly format (because monthly plans save my budget), and then I'll need a monthly cooking day where I'll make and potentially freeze:

4 meals worth two nights each
granola
muffins or bagels
granola bars or pretzels
any beans needed for the month

If I don't get those freezer meals made all in a day, I can always make a double portion on my Wednesday cooking day and freeze half for later. I'd be a few weeks behind doing it that way but it would work.

And then weekly, I'll be making bread and yogurt. I'll mix the bread dough Monday nights with dinner, bake Tuesday morning and again Friday evening with the pizza.